Track:

Public Health Sciences (Medicine, Pharmacology, Epidemiology, Clinical Research)

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Sessions & Session Descriptions:

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Cannabinoid Therapeutics for Neurological Disorders and Neurodegenerative Disease

Cannabis and certain cannabinoids have been investigated for potential efficacy as therapeutics to treat neurological disorders such as epilepsy, anxiety, and movement disorders and as possible treatments for neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's, Huntington's, and Alzheimer's disease. However, the utility of particular cannabinoids, effective doses, frequency of administration, which symptoms are targeted, and the pharmacological mechanisms of action are poorly understood. This session will provide current information on what is understood about likely mechanisms of action by which specific cannabinoids target particular symptoms in certain neurological disorders and neurodegenerative diseases.

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Cannabis Epidemiology and Effects on Public Health

This session will focus on epidemiologic studies of cannabis that have a public health impact. Populations can be both medical and/or adult-use populations or other relevant groups that work or consume cannabis (e.g., clinicians and budtenders). Studies that include underrepresented and diverse groups are encouraged. Study designs can be cross-sectional, observational, or longitudinal, emphasizing topics such as patterns of use, knowledge, attitudes, benefits, adverse effects, dosing, and/or specific cannabinoids. This session also includes research that has a public health impact (e.g., impaired driving, cannabis use during pregnancy, emergency department visits due to cannabis, and dosing recommendations for symptom reduction). The talks in this session should benefit clinicians, researchers, medical/adult use consumers, regulators, and industry stakeholders.

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Cannabis Use, Psychiatric Disorders and Public Health Challenges

Cannabis products available on the open market have evolved rapidly in the past decade as more states have legalized medicinal and recreational marijuana. The variety of product types has increased beyond whole flowers to include edibles, concentrates, and topical preparations of various types. These products are available for consumption via a variety of methods, including inhalation by cigarette, pipes, bongs, and vaping devices or by dabbing, oral ingestion in edible or tincture form, sprays, and various other topical deliveries. Notably, the concentrations of cannabinoids in the products and the resulting levels of cannabinoids that can be delivered to the bloodstream by the various delivery methods have dramatically increased in the last decade. Associated with these changes in publicly available cannabis products has been a marked increase in cannabis use disorder resulting in various social, occupational, and health consequences. These include addictive behavior, cannabis hyperemesis syndrome, depression, anxiety, and negative cognitive effects, among others. As these public health challenges have emerged, their characterization in the psychiatric and epidemiological scientific literature has begun to develop. This session will provide scientifically backed information about current public health challenges associated with cannabis use, identify strengths and weaknesses in the currently available scientific data describing these challenges, and suggest future research needed to better inform the public about particular cause-and-effect relationships.

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Challenges Associated With Conducting Clinical Research on Cannabinoids

This session will focus on the hurdles associated with conducting clinical research on cannabis products. Topics include but are not limited to 1) obtaining regulatory approvals (FDA, DEA, etc.), 2) processes for setting up Schedule 1 facilities and managing storage and dispensation, 3) compounding study-specific cannabis products, 4) issues with blinding of cannabis in clinical trials, and 5) challenges of conducting observational studies of real-world cannabis use.